?ÿthe lawyer logic:?ÿ As a professional, if it is reasonable for you to detect an inconsistency/error/unconstructable problem in the plans you're staking and you stake to plan without alerting the other professionals, i.e. architect/engineer/construction contractor(s), you're culpable because you didn't meet the standard of care a professional is expected to meet.
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Then you just need a better lawyer.
This is why survey shouldn't be providing engineering like services like an architect shouldn't be providing measurements that matter for boundaries or anything else that survey should do. I leave out the engineers because I'm familiar with how they seem to want to be able to do it all and then in the end call in the survey people to get some support and the architecture group too.
The language of the contract and the board rules should be able to keep a surprise from popping up in a Surveyor's work, and in no means would I be offering any advice after I'm licensed to someone or some group who should know better, to have checked their work, to accept and become a target of their incompetence and their greedy legal team. I'd probably end up losing work but you lose no?ÿ money not being sued.
(Mic gently laid down on a pillow so Bill doesn't get pissed)
Prop Mic body slammed....
?ÿ
End of year P&V still flowing apparently....only another day or so.... ?????ÿ
Might be worth paying an hour or two to your legal people/person to draft up your own indemnity clause to limit yourself and your workers to exactly what you want to be doing.
If too restrictive the client may select somebody else.?ÿ And no matter how your weasel clause is worded you'll still be culpable if you're at fault doing what you're doing.
At fault indicates knowingly doing something substandard. Or being adjudicated after an investigation.
I believe that pushback and invoking integrity has been long overlooked and yeah I'll probably lose business, but I live a very simple life, and I sleep better knowing I and my team did it right than letting someone force me to admit that I could have done better if only...
My license plate should read...
"Yo lucho contra los molinos de viento"?ÿ
Just to take a step back from argumentation here and tell a tale that involves liability.
195' two span bridge over a river.?ÿ Bulb Tee prestressed girders delivered by truck from a (minority owned) prefab plant 200 miles away.?ÿ The day arrives and the first Bulb Tee shows up and gets offloaded to a marshalling area in a TCE adjacent to the bridge by the big boy cranes, direct truck to placement transfer impossible due to terrain constraints.?ÿ Disaster ensues as the cranes lower the beam into temp wooden saddles and the beam rolls over to upside down as the supports sink into the soil.?ÿ Did you know high performance prestressed concrete girders when upside down actually break themselves apart from gravity??ÿ I didn't ????.?ÿ It wasn't spectacular or dangerous but before the cranes could recover it, it cracked massively at its base and was junk.
So everybody got sued because big money was involved, the manufacturer, the trucker, the construction contractor, the crane company, the civil engineer and even us.?ÿ In court we pointed out yes we staked the TCE and the event occurred within it but we had nothing to do with their activities which resulted in the failure. After only a few thousand dollars of litigation we were dismissed as defendants.?ÿ The point is if things go wrong the surveyor will always be named if only for discovery purposes, but if your have your ducks in a row and are innocent you'll be dismissed.
Just to take a step back from argumentation here and tell a tale that involves liability.
195' two span bridge over a river.?ÿ Bulb Tee prestressed girders delivered by truck from a (minority owned) prefab plant 200 miles away.?ÿ The day arrives and the first Bulb Tee shows up and gets offloaded to a marshalling area in a TCE adjacent to the bridge by the big boy cranes, direct truck to placement transfer impossible due to terrain constraints.?ÿ Disaster ensues as the cranes lower the beam into temp wooden saddles and the beam rolls over to upside down as the supports sink into the soil.?ÿ Did you know high performance prestressed concrete girders when upside down actually break themselves apart from gravity??ÿ I didn't ????.?ÿ It wasn't spectacular or dangerous but before the cranes could recover it, it cracked massively at its base and was junk.
So everybody got sued because big money was involved, the manufacturer, the trucker, the construction contractor, the crane company, the civil engineer and even us.?ÿ In court we pointed out yes we staked the TCE and the event occurred within it but we had nothing to do with their activities which resulted in the failure. After only a few thousand dollars of litigation we were dismissed as defendants.?ÿ The point is if things go wrong the surveyor will always be named if only for discovery purposes, but if your have your ducks in a row and are innocent you'll be dismissed.
I remind my clients, early and often that their understanding of the stakes on the ground does not override the signed and approved plans.
Had a guy call up and want to blame us for a problem...we stuck it just like we said we did...and he started thinking they meant something he made up in his head and WITHOUT HAVING EVEN LOOKED AT THE PLANS. That is not my fault.
Does it mean I cannot be sued? No. But I can get sued for walking out my front door. We will probable not be able to keep from ever having to hire a lawyer. I do not think that is possible in today's world.
Hopefully your attorney filed the counter claim suit and recovered the costs you had to expend, better yet, your insurance company sue for the subrogation process as you were found innocent and not liable.
See good attorney good outcome.
????
Hopefully your attorney filed the counter claim suit and recovered the costs you had to expend, better yet, your insurance company sue for the subrogation process as you were found innocent and not liable.
See good attorney good outcome.
????
Dunno.?ÿ I was only peripherally involved.
@mike-marks If I stake something per the plan, what am I liable for? What risk am I taking that I should be avoiding?
I had an interesting chat with an insurance guy last spring.?ÿ He said when a mistake is made the lawyer will sue everyone just to see what sticks.?ÿ They know everyone isn't responsible, but it doesn't matter because there is (apparently) no penalty for listing everyone who touched the project.?ÿ Ridiculous, right?
Anyway, the point is even if you're cleared in the end you still spent time/money getting there-- maybe more than what the contract is worth.
A guy wanted me to figure out how to fit a 10 space parking lot in the front yard of a house, I said you??re nuts. The house was going to be a care home and zoning required parking but you can??t fit 5 gallons of water in a shoe box.
That is a blivet according to one high school teacher I had.?ÿ A blivet is when you try to put ten pounds of shit into a five pound bag.
Oops, I used a baaad word.
